The Swinging Cat – Sydney CBD

It’s finally happened: a Sydney bar opened up that not only has a whole menu page dedicated to sazeracs, but also has a cat in its name.

The Swinging Cat is a New Orleans-inspired small bar lurking underneath the Subway franchise on the corner of King and Clarence.

They have:

jazz playing on the sound system

a swish, subterranean jazz-bar feel

friendly, knowledgeable staff.

Ignoring all the food, the non-sazerac drinks, as well as the variations of sazeracs on offer (such as a smoky chocolate sazerac, and a minty sazerac), I simply order a straight sazerac. After all, ordering anything else would be like getting seafood in a steak house.

The barman does all the right things: he asks whether I want it made with cognac or rye (even though the menu lists the straight sazerac as being made with cognac), and when I ask which rye he immediate answers Sazerac Rye – which is a brand of rye whiskey you don’t often see in Australian bars.

The sazerac is excellent – I’d describe the taste, but the beauty of a classic sazerac is that it’s so unique it almost defies description (do you call it medicinal? Sweet? Bitter? Smooth? None of these words do it justice).

Although I firmly believe that cats should never be swung (even if the room were big enough), I do approve of this bar.